Combined billiard ball rack and shoe assembly

ABSTRACT

A conventional triangular rack for billiard balls, combined with a removable shoe comprising a triangular base plate covering the lower side of the rack, and an integrally molded handle having a flange overhanging one sidewall of the rack. A cup-like retainer is nailed onto the nose of the rack with the bottom wall of the retainer spaced below the bottom edge of the rack a sufficient distance to define a slot for slidably receiving and holding the nose of the base plate.

United States Patent Miller 1 Feb. 26, 1974 1 1 COMBINED BILLIARD BALL RACK AND 1,882,890 10/1932 Porter 220/41 3,627,321 12/1971 Sardo 1. 272 22 SHOE ASSEMBLY Marvin A. Miller, 4323 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, Calif. 90019 Filed: Sept. 14, 1971 Appl. No.: 180,314

Inventor:

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3/1919 Neef 220/41 X Primary ExaminerRichard C. Pinkham Assistant ExaminerR. T. Stouffer [57] ABSTRACT A conventional triangular rack for billiard balls, com bined with a removable shoe comprising a triangular base plate covering thelower side of the rack, and an integrally molded handle having a flange overhanging one sidewall of the rackfA cup-like retainer is nailed onto the nose of the rack with the bottom wall of the retainer spaced below the bottom edge of the rack a sufficient distance to define a slot for slidably receiving and holding the nose of the base plate.

6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures l COMBINED BILLIARD BALL RACK AND SHOE ASSEMBLY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to billiard ball racks, which conventionally are formed as triangular frames having open upper and lower sides, and which are used in artransported in the rack to the top of the table where the bottom wall is slid out from under the rack to deposit the balls on the table. Then the rack may simply be lifted away from the table to leave the balls in a triangular group.

Ball racks for the foregoing general purpose have,

been proposed before, but in general have been relatively complex in construction or difficult to handle and operate. Perhaps the most nearly practical approach to the problem has been a rack having a shoe forming a triangular bottom wall which slides into position to cover the lower side of the, rack through a recess in one sidewall of the rack and along grooves formed in the inner sides of the remaining two sidewalls, at the lower edges thereof.-

' In this type of rack, one corner of the bottom wall slides over a support member secured to the underside of the rack at one corner thereof, thereby holding this corner slidably in place. A hook-shaped part is attached to the side of the rack opposite this'corner and slides into a slot in the frame to secure this side of the bottom wall to the rack.

Although this general concept has merit, the construction has not been used commercially because of the many operations, including grooving, required to adapt the rack for use with the shoe, and difficulties in grasping and manipulating the shoe to release the balls.

SUMMARY OF THEv INVENTION The present invention resides in an improved ball rack and shoe assembly which is much simpler to assemble and also to manipulate, and which may be used with conventional, inexpensive racks without need for any modification of the latter. In the improved shoe assembly, the bottom wall and a handle preferably are molded integrally in a simple and attractive one-piece unit, and a retainer is provided for quick and easy attachment to one corner of the rack, for example with nails or screws, to complete the rack and shoe assembly. Moreover, the handle-configuration greatly simpli fies manipulation of the rack and the shoe to release the balls.

More specifically, and as shown herein as the preferred embodiment of the invention, the shoe comprises a generally triangular plastic base plate sized to cover the open lower side of the rack, and the handle is an elongated, generally rectangular plate which extends upwardly from one side edge of the base plate a distance at least as great of the. height of the rack, with an inturned flange along the upper edge of the plate for overlying the rack. The base plate and handle preferably are molded in one piece of plastic, and the ends of the handle are inclined upwardly and toward each other, to taper the handles upwardly, and are spaced from the corners of the base plate on opposite sides to expose the adjacent corners of the rack on opposite sides of the handle.

The preferred retainer is an open-sided plastic cup having a generally triangular bottom wall and an upstanding, generally V-shaped flange'which is fastened to one comer of the rack with the bottom wall spaced below the rack to define a recess for receiving the corner of the base plate opposite the handle. A slide plate is attached to the underside of the base plate near the corner that enters the retaining recess, to prevent the base plate from dropping after it slides out of the retainer.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a pool table equipped with an automatic ball return system, a combined rack and shoe assembly embodying the novel features of the present invention being shown in partly separated condition on top of the table;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional view taken through the rack and shoe assembly of FIG. 1 in a vertical, central plane, with the assembly slid together into the ball-holding condition;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the assem-' bly, without the balls, substantially as it appears in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the shoe, taken rection of the arrow 4 inFIG. 3; and 7 FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of the retainer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION As shown in the drawings for purposes of illustration, the invention is embodied in a combined billiard ball rack and shoe assembly, indicated generally by the reference number 10, for use with a pool table 11 f0 a basically conventional type having an automatic ballreturn system. In'suchatable, eac h ball 12 that drops into one of the pockets 13 is returned along internal track (not shown) to one end of the table, where it drops into a storage receptacle. Then, after all of the balls (of which there typically are fifteen) have been played, they are returned to the top of the table, racked in a triangular group as shown in FIG. 1, and play is resumed.

In this instance, the illustrative table 11 has a slot 14 in one end opening into an internal compartment, and the storage receptacle is a conventional rack 15, in the in the di- .form of a three-cornered, generally triangular frame,

which may be made of wood or any other suitable material. The open lower side of the rack is closed by a shoe 17 having a generally triangular bottom wall 18 sized to coverthe lower side and mounted on the rack for movement therewith.

The rack and shoe, together, are inserted in the slot 14 in the end of the table 11 and positioned to receive the returning balls 12. Then, when the rack has been filled, it is pulled out of the slot, with the shoe in place and holding the balls in the rack, and is lifted to the top of the table. After the assembly is in place on the table, the shoe is removed to release the balls, either by sliding the'rack off theshoe or by pulling the shoe away 3 from the rack, and the rack is lifted away from the balls after the group has been properly positioned. Before play is resumed, the rack and shoe are reassembled and placed back in the slot 14 to be refilled.

It should be understood that the foregoing general description is applicable to the prior art as well as to the present invention. This general description is included herein for background information and to provide a clearer understanding of the improvements constituting the invention.

In accordance with the present invention, the shoe [7 is formed in a novel manner to be mounted slidably on the rack 15 in an extremely simple fashion, and to be quite simple to manipulate in use. Moreover, an important aspect of the invention is the ability to adapt conventional, inexpensive racks for use in the combined rack and shoe assembly 10 without need for any modification. e

To theseends, the bottom wall 18 of the shoe 17 is a base plate which slides beneath, rather than into, the rack 15, and it is retained slidably in place on the rack by a handle 19 on one side of the base plate having a flange 20 which overhangs the corresponding sidewall of the rack, and by a simple, cup-like retainer 21 fastened to the corner of the rack opposite the handle. The handle preferably is molded integrally with the base plate in an easily graspable form, leaving the corners of the rack exposed on each side and thus reducing the assembly to the rack and two parts, plus a few nails or screws. I

As shown most clearly in FlG.,2, the base plate 18 underlies and abuts against the lower edges of the three sidewalls of the rack 15, with one rounded corner or nose 22 disposed beneath the rounded left corner or nose 23 'of the rack, and with a flat side of the base plate beneath the right sidewall 24 of the rack. The remaining sides 25 and rounded corners 27 of the base plate are disposed beneath, and preferably in flush alignment with, the remaining rounded corners 28 and flat sidewalls 29 of the rack. Thus, the base plate 18 can be seen to be larger than the open lower side of the rack, and preferably about the same size as the outside dimensions of the underside of the rack.

The handle 19 is formed by an elongated, generally rectangular plate 30 that is integrally joined to the right side of the base plate 18, in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the base plate, to project uupwardly to a level at least equal to the height of a rack 15 on the base plate. The flange 20, also integrally joined to the handle plate. 30, projects inwardly from the top of the plate, to overhang the base plate, parallel thereto, and thus overlies the top of the right sidewall 24 of the rack.

To leave the corners 28 of the rack exposed on each side of the handle 19, the handle plate 30 has ends 31 spaced from the corners 27 of the base plate, and herein these ends are inclined upwardly and toward each other at angles on the order of sixty degrees with the base plate. Thus, the handle .tapers upwardly toward the flange 20. r

The retainer 21, shown most clearly in FIG. 5, has a generally triangular bottom wall 32 with a rounded corner matching the rounded nose 23 of the rack, and has a similarly rounded, generally V-shaped flange 33 which projects upwardly and overlaps the sidewalls 29 adjacent the nose and around the nose. This flange is fastened to the rack, as by nails 34 (one being shown in FIG. 3), with the bottom wall 32 spaced below the rack to define a slot 35 (FIG. 3) for receiving the corresponding comer or nose 22 of the base plate, as shown in FIG. 2. When the handle is hooked around the sidewall 24 of the rack, the nose 22 of the base plate is fitted in, and securely held in, the retainer slot 35.

On the underside of the base plate 18, preferably closely adjacent the retainer 21 when the shoe is in place, is a flat slide plate 37 which may be either cemented to or molded integrally with the base plate. This slide plate holds the base plate against dropping sharply down as it leaves the retainer, and thus smooths the operation of the assembly.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the present invention provides a significantly improved rack and shoe assembly 10 which makes it possible'to use a conventional rack 15 without need for complex modifcations. Moreover, the assembly is easier to manipulate, simple to manufacture and assemble, and, in general, a more attractive and saleable product.

It also will be evident that, while a particular form of the invention has been illustrated and described, various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim: I

1. In combination with a conventional billiard ball rack having three sidewalls joined together to form a three-cornered, generally triangular frame having open upper and lower sides, an improved shoe assembly for I easy attachment to said rack and for removably closing said lower side thereof, and having, in combination:

a flat, generally triangular base plate disposed beneath said rack and having approximately the same size and shape as ssid open lower side;

a handle integrally joined to and extending substantially the length of one edge of said base plate', projecting upwardly along one of said sidewalls along the outer surface of the latter, and having an inturned flange overhanging the upper surface of said one sideall to prevent said one edge of said base plate from dropping away from said rack;

and a retainer in the shape of an open-sided cup attached to the corner of said rack opposite said one sidewall, said cup including a wall spaced below the underside of the rack a distance greater than the thickness of said base plate, and generally V- shaped flange means extending upwardly from the outside edge of said wall along the outer-surface of the sidewalls of said rack, overlapping the sidewalls adjacent said corner, and attached thereto, said wall extending across the underside of said rack, said wall and said V-shaped flange means cooperating with the underside of said rack to define a slot beneath said rack into which the corner of said base plate opposite'said handle slidably projects, said slot securely receiving said corner ofsaid base plate, whereby said base plate and said retainer may be secured to the undersurface of a conventional rack without further modification of said rack to close the open lower side of the latter during collection of billiard balls therein, said base plate being held against downward and side to side displacement from the undersurface of said rack by said handle and said retainer only and said base plate being slidable laterally outof said slot and from under said rack to release the balls on a table by grasping the handle and the rack and moving the two horizontally relative to each other.

2. The combination defined in claim 1 in which said base plate and said handle are integrally joined together as a one-piece plastic unit.

3. The combination defined in claim 2 in which said handle comprises an elongated, generally rectangular plate connected to the edge of said one side of said base plate and projecting above the latter a distance slightly greater than the height of said rack, with said flange extending inwardly over said one sidewall in closely spaced relation therewith.

4. The combination defined in claim 3 in which said handle plate has edges at the opposite ends which are tially flush wwth the sidewalls of the rack. 

1. In combination with a conventional billiard ball rack having three sidewalls joined together to form a three-cornered, generally triangular frame having open upper and lower sides, an improved shoe assembly for easy attachment to said rack and for removably closing said lower side thereof, and having, in combination: a flat, generally triangular base plate disposed beneath said rack and having approximately the same size and shape as said open lower side; a handle integrally joined to and extending substantially the length of one edge of said base plate, projecting upwardly along one of said sidewalls along the outer surface of the latter, and having an inturned flange overhanging the upper surface of said one sidewall to prevent said one edge of said base plate from dropping away from said rack; and a retainer in the shape of an open-sided cup attached to the corner of said rack opposite said one sidewall, said cup including a wall spaced below the underside of the rack a distance greater than the thickness of said base plate, and generally V-shaped flange means extending upwardly from the outside edge of said wall along the outer surface of the sidewalls of said rack, overlapping the sidewalls adjacent said corner, and attached thereto, said wall extending across the underside of said rack, said wall and said V-shaped flange means cooperating with the underside of said rack to define a slot beneath said rack into which the corner of said base plate opposite said handle slidably projects, said slot securely receiving said corner of said base plate, whereby said base plate and said retainer may be secured to the undersurface of a conventional rack without further modification of said rack to close the open lower side of the latter during collection of billiard balls therein, said base plate being held against downward and side to side displacement from the undersurface of said rack by said handle and said retainer only and said base plate being slidable laterally out of said slot and from under said rack to release the balls on a table by grasping the handle and the rack and moving the two horizontally relative to each other.
 2. The combination defined in claim 1 in which said base plate and said handle are integrally joined together as a one-piece plastic unit.
 3. The combination defined in claim 2 in which said handle comprises an elongated, generally rectangular plate connected to the edge of said one side of said base plate and projecting above the latter a distance slightly greater than the height of said rack, with said flange extending inwardly over said one sidewall in closely spaced relation therewith.
 4. The combination defined in claim 3 in which said handle plate has edges at the opposite ends which are spaced from the adjacent corners of said base plate to expose corners of said rack on each side of said handle.
 5. The combination defined in claim 1 further including means on the underside of said base plate for maintaining it substantially horizontal after it is pulled out of said slot.
 6. The combination defined in claim 1 in which said base plate is about the same size as the outside dimensions of the underside of said rack, so as to be substantially flush with the sidewalls of the rack. 